USDA Business & Industry guarantees compared with SBA 7(a)

Both programs are guarantees or loans made by lenders the agencies approve. Capital Market Funds arranges an introduction. It is not a USDA lender, not an SBA lender, and not a certified development company. The rural development website that describes Business and Industry guarantees returned a block when it was requested for this note, so the quotes below are from the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 7 CFR Part 5001, opened October 28, 2026, and from SBA's 7(a) page opened the same day. This note is general information. It is not tax advice, legal advice, or an appraisal. A CPA, an attorney, or the other professional named in the note decides how the rule applies to a given property.

Part 5001 defines lender as a lending entity the Agency has approved to originate, service, and collect payments on guaranteed loans under that part. It defines a guaranteed loan as one made and serviced by a lender that has a lender's agreement with the Agency and for which the Agency has issued a loan note guarantee. A rural area, in the definitions opened that day, means any area of a state not in a city or town that has a population of more than 50,000 inhabitants, according to the latest decennial census, and not in the urbanized area contiguous and adjacent to a city or town of more than 50,000, with certain populations excluded under 7 U.S.C. 1991(a)(13)(H). The Agency says it will use the latest decennial census, and that an application cannot be approved subject to meeting the rural-area requirement later. A guarantee percentage is not printed here. The regulation says the Agency announces annual guarantee percentages in the Federal Register and may set them at or below the statutory maximum. Using a stale percent would misstate the program.

What the regulation lists as a project, and what this office will not turn into a construction loan

In the eligible-project text opened on eCFR, the purpose must be to improve, develop, or finance business, industry, and employment and improve the economic and environmental climate in rural communities, among other purposes listed in that section. The uses include purchase and development of land, buildings, or infrastructure for public or private commercial enterprises or industrial properties, including expansion or modernization; business acquisitions when jobs are created or saved; and purchase of machinery and equipment. 'Development of land' is the regulation's phrase. It is not an offer by this office to arrange acquisition-and-development or construction-to-permanent financing. A request that is ground-up construction is a different conversation, with the lender that would fund draws. The comparison on this page is a guaranteed loan on rural commercial real estate the lender is willing to make.

SBA's 7(a) page says 7(a) loans can be used for acquiring, refinancing, or improving real estate and buildings; short- and long-term working capital; refinancing current business debt; machinery and equipment; furniture, fixtures, and supplies; and changes of ownership. It says the maximum loan amount for a 7(a) loan is $5 million. It says you apply directly through a lender, and that a participating lender, or SBA's Lender Match tool, is how you connect. Eligibility on that page includes being an operating for-profit business located in the United States, small under SBA size rules, and unable to obtain the credit on reasonable terms from non-federal, non-state, and non-local government sources. 7(a) is not limited to the rural definition above. A rural address can still be a 7(a) conversation if the business and the use fit. The Arizona arrangement pages are USDA B&I, SBA 7(a), and SBA loan broker. How 7(a) differs from 504, which is a third program, is 7(a) versus 504.

Do not merge the two applications

A lender may discuss both. The borrower should not assume a decline on one is a decline on the other, or that a rural address automatically fails 7(a), or that a town under 50,000 inhabitants automatically passes the USDA test. Contiguous urbanized area is part of the USDA sentence. The lender and the Agency check the map. We do not certify eligibility on this page.

Capital Market Funds is not a Fannie Mae DUS lender. The office is 7373 E Doubletree Ranch Rd #255, Scottsdale, AZ 85258. The phone is (480) 495-8072. Capital Market Funds, LLC - CBK-2007014 - Commercial Mortgage Banker and NMLS 1445066.